0 Aftermath
by Dr Vanya
Summary: *Spoilers* The events of Stolen Earth/Journey's End and the following weeks, as reported by internet journalist Haze McCall. A bridge between series 4 and 'Haze'.


Haze

Case No. 124

Designation: The Stolen Earth

I felt I needed to cover this event. Even thought there can't be a person on this planet who failed to notice what was going on it doesn't seem to be at the front of people's minds as it should be.

It all happened so suddenly, first there was a tremor and then the sky lit up with a brilliant white light, and then everything went dark. I was on the road when this happened, driving north on the M6. Everything came to a standstill, and like the rest of the motorists I lift my vehicle to get a better look. When you look up and you see a vast array of planets instead of blue skies, you see something you won't soon forget. After recovering from the initial shock, my journalistic instincts told me to get as many pictures as possible, I photographed the sky and my fellow travelers, all as perplexed by what was going on as I was. As the initial shock wore off people began to return to their vehicles and continue on their journeys. But for me we this was not an option, it was a very real crisis, it may sound cold that I didn't continue to try and reach my family, I didn't want to miss a second of this because I was on the road. I pulled off at the nearest motorway service station.

Hours passed, I was able to find my way to a TV and, only for lack of another source of information, watched as 'experts' commentated on the the unfolding events. As it turned out the service station was the best place to be. We were huddled together, strangers brought together by a common event, but elsewhere the world was falling apart. There were reports of rioting, looting and general civil unrest. Even though where we were as quiet and isolated a few of the scared inhabitants insisted on locking down the shutters to keep as safe from the outside world, and management gave in. As I wondered round the inside I saw a man looking for information on the internet, he'd even logged into this site trying to see if I knew anything. When I tapped him on the shoulder to apologise he almost had a heart attack, he just never though I could be trapped there with him, as clueless as to what was going on as the rest of the world.

And that's when the ships came. The TV told us about it first, and then came the sound, "Exterminate!" It was frighting by itself, but I knew of of a deeper meaning. Daleks, for those of you still unaware that's what they were called I recommend you read Archive entry #23. They've been to Earth before, and it always ends in destruction. They leave few survivors, but it only takes one to tell their story. I have heard the stories, and they never end well. People were starting to panic, would we be safe, were we remote enough, insignificant enough to be ignored as they rained death to the major cities? With the targets being military in nature I thought we would be safe, I tried to reassure people, some took my word as the only person resembling an authority, but most we just scared out of their minds.

I have learned from questioning carried out following the incident that the Daleks began to round up small groups of humans. The majority of these were taken from their homes, while others were rounded up from the streets. From what I can tell these people were taken away, but their fate remains unknown. Sadly I would assume that they are all dead, and while I did not personally know any of them, my thoughts and feelings go out to those of you who did.

After some time the ships left. With our military crushed, and a relatively small (I would estimate hundreds, at most) number of our people hostage, hundreds of Dalek ships just flew away. We didn't know what was going on, but it was cause for celebration. Against the shop owners wishes several bottle of low quality champagne were opened and we all had a drink in honor of of what we hoped would be out salvation. We saw that people all over the world were celebrating, it was like the crisis was over and we were all pulling together again.

What followed was perhaps the strangest part. Acceleration, it was like the whole planet was moving, and at a very great speed. Everything shook, I fought my way up to the roof and the sight was incredible. Stars were whizzing past as if the Earth had been flung through space at an incredible speed. As we came to a stop I looked up, sunlight, light from out sun, and a clear sky. I had wondered if we would ever see these things again, but here we were returned by some benevolent force. The service station was unsealed and all of us were eager to leave and to find reach out friends and families, although a few of us vowed to keep in contact. I feel I have forged strong bonds with the people there, it's amazing how times like this can bring people together. As soon as I left, I drove north to see my family. I had spoken to them while trapped in the service station, they were shaken, but ultimately fine. Once I arrived we celebrated our survival.

In the days afterwards experts released facts and figures to try and prove to everyone that Earth was back in it's rightful place in the solar system. As you all should know by now I have a background in astrophysics and I can confirm that we indeed are truly home.

This may sound like an odd thing to say after such an event, but I have found the weeks following this incident to be strange, especially in the way things have been so, normal. In the days after we were taken there was civil unrest and panic in the streets, which was being dealt with by local police, and in in some cases, army. But then came the Standring Foundation, who were able to send their people to assist local authorities as well as footing the bill for the rebuilding and offering counciling to those who have lost loved ones in the crisis. A noble endeavor you may think, indeed I last heard from the foundation several months ago after the world had been covered by that choking fog. They assisted then as well, helping with the clean up, providing medical care and removing ATMOS from every car. There may be more to the foundation however. Well more than the official stories anyway. From what I can tell they go back more than thirty years and always seem to appear during alien originated crises. The earliest incidence of them I could find of them was an incident in the 70's where London was overrun by dinosaurs. This may sound incredible, indeed I had difficulty believing and corroborating it myself. It seems the vast majority of the population who were in London at the time believe that they were under the influence of some kind of hallucinogen. However a small group of dedicated truth seekers (who've been fighting the fight long before I was even born) have shown me irrefutable evidence that they were real. That was when the Standring Foundation first appeared, fulfilling almost exactly the same role they did today, repairing the damage and trying to convince people it didn't happen. They kept appearing, in more recent years they repaired the damaged Big Ben, cleaned up after the Sycorax and helped people after the 'ghosts' turned into an army of cybered-men. And after their work was complete each time, the world went on as if nothing had happened.

I tried to research them further and was unable to find anything more than the official story on their website and was unable to secure an interview with anyone connected to them.

I found the responses from people who I interviewed to be startling. It wasn't as if they had forgotten what happened, but many of them had to be prompted to recall facts, as if they were remembering something that occurred years rather than weeks ago. It may not be my place to comment on such things, but I feel that I have talked to people, who will remain nameless, who have overcome their grief far too quickly. All of them were counciled by people from the Standring Foundation. Once again people are living their lives as if nothing has changed, going to work planning their summer holidays, getting excited about the football. You would never believe we had recently been attacked by a hostile alien race. Even I'm prone to forget occasionally, I'll just go through the day like nothing has happened. I set up one of my pictures of the dark, planet filled sky as a constant reminder and I recommend you all do the same. It would be easy to put this down to being human, but I'm convinced there is more at work, what can only be described as a very subtle cover up, one that most people don't even realise is happening. As of today I am placing the Standring Foundation under my active investigations.

See also:

Photos

Interviews

Daleks

The Standring Foundation

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